Small forward Johnny Furphy has signed to play men’s basketball at Kansas, KU head coach Bill Self announced. Furphy will be a freshman for the 2023-24 season.

Known for his length, athleticism and ability to knock down threes, Furphy, 6-foot-8, 202 pounds, comes to Kansas from Melbourne, Australia. He has also been described as a player that attacks the basket and finishes above the rim.

Furphy plays for Centre of Excellence (CoE) – Basketball Australia’s development program hosted at the Australian Institute of Sport alongside NBA Global Academy. Furphy reclassified for the 2023 class and garnered attention when he participated in various NBA Academy events in the United States, including the NBA Academy Games in Atlanta in early July 2023. The NBA Global Academy has produced recent Australian NBA Draft first round picks Dyson Daniels and Josh Giddey.

“Johnny is a youngster that we saw in person for the first time at the NBA Academy Development camp in Atlanta during the July period, and then we saw him multiple times the next week in Las Vegas,” Self said. “He is one of the most gifted, skilled young kids in the 2023 class and certainly as gifted and skilled as any player remaining that we could recruit. He’s been well trained at the Center of Excellence in Australia. He’s well beyond his years from his feel and basketball IQ standpoint. The platform at the NBA Global Academy has allowed him to be seen and recruited at this level. We are very excited about him and think his future is very bright.”

Playing for CoE, Furphy averaged 14.3 points and was 22-for-56 (39.3 percent) from three-point range, to go along with 5.6 rebounds in 12 games played in 2023. Playing for Victoria at the 2023 Australia-U20 Championship, Furphy averaged 13.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals in six games and made 38.5 percent of his three-point field goals, going 21-for-33 from beyond the arc.